Proton OnSite acquired by Norwegian company in $70 million deal

Nel, a Norwegian hydrogen company, has acquired Wallingford-based Proton OnSite in a deal worth $70 million, officials with the two companies said Monday.

Privately-held Proton OnSite is owned by Tom Sullivan, a New England entrepreneur who founded retail flooring giant Lumber Liquidators. Proton OnSite makes equipment that produces hydrogen.

Sullivan has owned Proton OnSite since he rescued a previous incarnation of the company from bankruptcy in 2007. Rob Friedland, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said the deal helps both companies.

“They were looking to expand their footprint in the United States and we needed better access to selling in Europe,” Friedland said. “We weren’t actively shopping the company. They approached us several months ago about selling.”

Proton OnSite employs 92 people, with 87 working in Wallingford, he said. Friedland said Nel has no intention of moving Proton Onsite out of Wallingford. The company is poised for what Friedland termed “a significant growth period.”

“It’s going to require working capital,” he said.

The deal will create “the world’s largest hydrogen electrolyser company,” said Jon André Løkke, chief executive officer of Nel.

“This will give Nel a strong foothold in the U.S. and other markets beyond our current positio,” Løkke said. “Proton OnSite also has a very motivated and talented organization, and a solid backlog going into 2017.”

Proton OnSite recently was awarded a contract in China to have its generating units used to refuel buses that run on hydrogen.